Monamines

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. These organic molecules are characterized by a single amine group and play essential roles in neurotransmission and the regulation of mood and behavior
2. Organic compounds featuring one amine group that are vital for transmitting signals in the nervous system and influencing emotional states
3. Chemical substances containing one amine group that act as important messengers in nerve signal transmission and mood modulation

Etymology: "Monamines" is the plural of "monamine", a chemical term for a class of compounds, and the plural is simply the form used when speaking of several of them at once. A monamine is a compound containing a single amine group, which is the chemical basis for the neurotransmitters that carry signals between nerve cells. The word combines the prefix "mono-", meaning one, with "amine", the name for compounds built around a nitrogen atom bonded to hydrogen or carbon groups. Because the term is a technical coinage built from familiar Greek and chemical parts, its history is largely the history of the chemical naming system that produced "amine" itself. Like many scientific words, it was assembled to describe a specific structural feature rather than to carry any older popular sense.